Media

Commentary on various aspects of publishing and marketing, primarily focused on books, magazines, and social media.

An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Bill Maher does journalists’ job for them

One of the more frustrating things about mainstream media coverage of this year’s Presidential primaries has been their short attention span and preference for the low-calorie sensational stories over the meatier issues of the day. ie: Samantha Power calling Hillary Clinton a “monster” (a comment which, taken in context, is hard to argue to with) is somehow more newsworthy than actually vetting Clinton’s numerous exaggerated claims of experience (kudos to the Chicago Tribune for finally exposing that batch of lies).

It’s no wonder the Daily Show is considered a better source of news than the actual networks dedicated to covering news 24/7.

On that note, this back-and-forth between Bill Maher (who I’m no big fan of) and Terry McAuliffe is both refreshing and noteworthy, if much too short:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTWumj6qpmI]

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Continue ReadingBill Maher does journalists’ job for them
An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Know Hope

April 22nd is a long way off and my nerves are a little bit frayed right now so I’m going to step away from politics for a while here on the blog and focus on some other stuff (see below).

For a final bit of perspective on the meaning of last night’s results, I cede the floor to the inimitable Andrew Sullivan:

Obama supporters should not be dismayed.

Obama has a tougher, nastier opponent in the Clintons than he does in McCain. If he wins this by a long, grueling struggle, he will be more immune to the lazy, stupid criticism that he is some kind of flash in the pan, he has more opportunity to prove that there is a great deal of substance behind the oratory, he has more of a chance to meet and talk with the electorate he will need to win in the fall.

I think the argument for Obama is easily strong enough to withstand the egos of the Clintons. The more people see that her case is almost entirely a fear-based one and his is almost entirely a positive one, the more he will win the moral victory as well as the delegate count. In the cold light of day, the bruising news that the Clintons are not yet dead seems less onerous.

Know hope.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Primary Predictions: Prepared for the Worst

I’m fully prepared for the highly likely possibility that Clinton wins both OH and TX tonight, albeit narrowly, and if so, will rightfully declare that her campaign will continue through Pennsylvania’s 4/22 primary. The “comeback kid” spin will be dizzying, again, for the next 24 hours, despite the reality being that she won’t actually have managed to put much of a dent in the overall delegate gap, the previous benchmark her campaign had set to measure her viability when they thought this would be finished back on February 5th.

Delegate counts aren’t a sexy story, though, and the media is still engaging in a silly moment of self-loathing thanks to Tina Fey, so the Obama campaign will have their work cut out for them over the next seven weeks.

Assuming tonight doesn’t result in an unexpected blowout by either side — and all spin aside, that’s really what Clinton needs to legitimately justify her staying in the race — here’s what I think Obama’s plan of attack will [should] be to deliver the final knockout blow in Pennsylvania, if not before:

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Obama’s Executive Credentials (and Clinton’s apparent lack thereof…)

UPDATE: Holy shit! Obama has raised over $4m $5m SINCE LAST NIGHT!!!! BarackObama.com is currently down as their servers are overwhelmed so chances are he’s going to blow past $5m $6m by the morning. That’s a movement!

I said recently that Politico’s Ben Smith had become my favorite political blogger, and while still technically true from an informational perspective (check out this post on the question of whether the Clintons are self-financing their campaign), The Atlantic’s Andrew Sullivan has consistently impressed with me his level-headed insight on various aspects of this roller coaster campaign. Today he offers a compelling assessment of Obama and the “executive experience” question:

He asked me to judge his executive skills by observing how he was managing a campaign.

By that standard, who isn’t impressed? A first term senator – a black urban liberal – raised more money, and continues to raise much more money, than Senator Clinton. More to the point, the money he has raised has not come from the well-connected fat-cats who do things like donate to the Clinton library. His base is much wider, broader and internet-based than hers. It has many more small donors.

Now look at the strategy he laid out last year, as he explained it to me and others. Iowa was the key. If he didn’t win Iowa, it was over. But if he could win Iowa, he would prove the principle that a black man could transcend the racial issue, helping in New Hampshire, and then also helping him peel off what was then majority black support for the Clintons in South Carolina. Then his strategy was meticulous organization – and you saw that in Iowa, as well as yesterday’s caucus states. Everything he told me has been followed through. And the attention to detail – from the Alaska caucus to the Nevada cooks – has been striking.

He goes on to look at how Obama’s handled “the psychological and emotional challenges of this campaign” and declares: “In the middle of this very hot zone, he exhibit a coolness and steeliness that is a mark of presidential timber.”

The entire post is good reading and one to bookmark for knee-jerk Clinton supporters who like to offer the maddeningly vague and misleading “35 years of experience” talking point by way of explaining their choice.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Hollywood Democratic Debate

It was a surprisingly substantial, mature discussion of actual issues between two very Presidential candidates with minimal interference from the moderator, who turned out to be Wolf Blitzer, not Anderson Cooper as I’d thought it would be.

Highlights:

  1. Health Care: The difference between them seems subtle on the face of it but I think it ultimately comes down to a question of Clinton’s approach seems to assume significant compromise will be required so she padded her proposal a bit (the way I used to approach the first round of my marketing annual budget), while Obama wants to cut to the chase and put forward a plan that is palatable to all from the beginning and puts us on the quickest path to a health care plan that can eventually lead to true universal health care.
  2. Immigration: Obama took the high road, saying it’s wrong to scapegoat immigrants as the reason unemployment is so high amongst African-Americans, while Clinton, shockingly, implied it was okay to blame immigrants. It’ll be interesting to see if the California media picks up on that in tomorrow’s coverage and if it gets any play in the Latino or African-American community.
  3. Iraq: Obama’s “Ready on Day One vs. Right on Day One” was the closest thing to a clean shot to the chin either candidate landed tonight. Blitzer pushed a little too hard on questioning Clinton’s naivete over trusting Bush’s word by voting for the war resolution, to the point where the audience booed him, but it was a valid point. 

Both candidates avoided any major gaffes or faux pas, going out of their way to be as cordial and respectful as possible, to the point where I can almost see myself shifting back towards being relatively comfortable voting for Clinton in November if she ends up being the nominee.  I still don’t see an Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket happening, though.

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Review Roundup: 1/08

Last year I was invited to join Amazon Vine, the online behemoth’s slick new marketing program that enables publishers (and other companies) to provide free review copies of their books (and other products) for a group of Amazon-selected reviewers, pretty much ensuring a lot of independent user reviews for the participating products. The program lets reviewers select up to 2 products from a pretty varied list each month, and you cannot have more than 2 unreviewed products at any time, so while there’s no guarantees (or requirements) that the reviews will be positive, the setup ensures that the products are actually getting some buzz for the effort from “influential” users.

I’ve been casually reviewing things on Amazon since 2000, breaking into the top 5,000 a year or two ago — which is where I was when I got the invitation — and am currently ranked #3,872 for my 103 reviews and the 782 helpful votes they’ve received.

So far, I’ve reviewed four books through the Vine program — two very good and two not at all — all but one of which I chose primarily on the basis of the marketing copy and/or subject matter:

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (2 stars)
“Sitcom approach ruins intriguing premise”

Lush Life: A Novel by Richard Price (5 stars)
“Vibrant, compelling read”

Hundred in the Hand by Joseph M. Marshall III (4 stars)
“Excellent, despite a couple of missteps”

Franklin the Fly by R.O. Blechman (2 stars)
“Pretty pictures can’t save too slight story”

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Are You a Bad Monkey?

Well, are you? Matt Ruff has written three of my favorite books, including one of my all-time favorites, Fool on the Hill. One of the coolest birthday presents I ever received was a signed copy of his Sewer, Gas and Electric [Whoops!] Fool -- Salomé actually mailed my dog-earred copy to him and he signed it and mailed it back! I'm a terrible fan, though, as I didn't realize his latest book, Bad Monkeys had been released yet. It's now on my wish list and I'll be ordering it this weekend. You should do the same! Side note: His website…

Continue ReadingAre You a Bad Monkey?
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